Archive for the ART Category

Dali is a superb draughtsman. Some years ago I visited the Dali Universe. County Hall, London. This 3,000 square metre space housed sculptures, (1935 -1984), lithographs, drawings and wonderful furniture inspired by Dali, gold and glass objects and even copies of the famous lobster telephone and the Mae West lips sofa! There were no major paintings on display, apart from the oil he did for Hitchcock’s ‘1945 film ‘Spellbound‘. I took great delight in looking through Dali’s drawings which are simply exquisite and show not only his draughtsmanship skills, but how exacting and precise his execution of drawing was. His imagination may have been wild, but his skills struck me as very honed and precise, not something I associate with Surrealism. Surreal, I know!

Too much has been written about this famous Spanish artist: some by myself (please see my earlier birthday posts here and for further Dali eccentricities here ). Dali loved wild animals. His favorite pet was a wildcat, an Ocelot, called Babou who he would take to restaurants, tethering the animal to a table and causing alarm to fellow diners.

The surreal image below shows Dali emerging from the Paris underground taking two Anteaters for a walk (1969). Andre Breton, Founder of the Surrealist movement, (who was known as ‘le tamanoir’ – ‘the anteater’) used this image as bookplates for several books and Dali was to depict the style of the anteater in his famous 1929 painting ‘The Great Masturbator’

Dali taking a Parisian walk with his pets

One of Dali’s famous stunts was staged at London’s International Surrealist Exhibition, 1936 when he gave a lecture whilst wearing a deep-sea diving suit and very nearly suffocated. His wild exaggerated gestures were mistaken for his usual amusing form of eccentricity. Luckily for him a poet, David Gascoyne rescued Dali – with a spanner!

A mysterious fire broke out in the artist’s bedroom in 1984, fortunately Dali was rescued by a friend, Robert Descharnes. Dali was returned his beloved Figueres , Spain (his birthplace), where his friends and artists looked after him. In November 1988 he went to hospital with heart failure. On 23rd January 1989, the artist died of heart failure at the age of 84. He is buried in the crypt in his Teatro Museo in Figueres, much loved and much admired by most artists and non artists alike.

We live in the times of the Confessional. Privacy is not exclusive. Well it sort of IS actually…. You can read these ‘exclusive’ stories every day in the newspapers. It’s amazing how quickly privacy flies out of the window when the price is right…

The act of the confessing is supposed to be between God and the confessor (using the Priest as a mediator or a conduit). It seems that the act of confessing all has now become an art form, Tracey Emin is a living ambassador of the confessional art, (sometimes known as autobiographical). In order for the confession to be of any interest to the average audience though, it has to have a shock factor, an air of secrecy and exclusivity, and that is where it falls down (when it loses its exclusivity, where it’s shared among the media and therefore becomes common knowledge. That doesn’t stop people being interested in others dirty washing though!

Fly on the wall documentaries, and ‘reality’programmes like Big Brother, The Osbournes and ‘I’m a Celebrity – get me out of here!‘ now provide popular entertainment . The confessional aspect of these shows requires starstruck voyeurs to really work. – and we have become a nation of voyeurs (or ‘observers’, as we like to call ourselves). The Jeremy Kyle Show has even won an award for this abrasive style of interogation (though not much arm twisting is involved to get guests to ‘spill the beans’ or air their dirty washing) A strange camera technique is used to throw the participant’s face into hideous relief showing up each blemish, wrinkle etc. the victim is then shouted at , told to ‘grow a pair’ and sent off to a ‘good cop’ (Kyle is ‘Bad cop’) for ‘after care’

Perhaps these shows make us feel better about ourselves or maybe some of the issues they deal with (well, touch upon) actually do affect us, or we have experience of them? There’s also the added bonus whilst watching these types of shows of the realisation that things could be a lot worse in our own world. I must add though that the reverse is true for me when I watch The Antiques Road Show and see all the personal stuff people have been left and are willing to part for a few quid. Having never been left anything – and having no rich relatives so never likely to be left anything, I do confess to a feeling of envy. 😦

The act of confessing is said to have a cathartic effect: though sometimes the opposite can occur. The opening up of old wounds, the telling of secrets: especially when these ‘secrets’ hurt or effect others lives.

Many agree that the original founder of Confessional art is the French American artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois (b 1911 – 2010) . In this interview (celebrating her 70th birthday and her Retrospective) she revealed that her sculptures are mostly self confessional, and that the materials used are personal and symbolic to her and represent parts of her personal life that she felt she needed to ‘explain’ or come to terms with. There’s a great article about this here

Here’s some quotes by the great sculptress;-

I’m neither a preacher nor a teacher.”

“If the artwork is true, then it will communicate and have value to others.”

“Trust yourself. In your art you must tell your own story and if you tell your own story, you will be interesting.”

“My art is a form of psychoanalysis. I was able to exorcise my demons through art.”

Artist Tracey Emin’s is a story-teller. Her art is a dichotomy. On the one hand, it is very self absorbed – all about herself and her experiences – yet it reaches out through its narrative and we become absorbed in it through the artist’s way of communication, which is very powerful.

Roberta Smith of The New Yorker says the following about Tracey’s work:

“If Tracey Emin could sing, she might be Judy Garland, a bundle of irresistible, pathetic, ferocious, self-indulgent, brilliant energy. Since she can’t, or doesn’t, she writes, incorporating autobiographical texts and statements into drawings, monoprints, watercolors, collages, quilts, neon sculptures, installations and videotapes. In her art she tells all, all the truths, both awful and wonderful, but mostly awful, about her life. Physical and psychic pain in the form of rejection, incest, rape, abortion and sex with strangers figure in this tale, as do love, passion and joy.”

The art of the confessional is here to stay – both in the art world and the media. People will always want to read all about it in Heat magazine or biographys. Anyone can do it – just make sure you get your story straight……. and don’t tell everything….. leave that for your next book.

I have not featured any jewellery on Echostains for quite a while. I have been looking for something really unusual – something that can inspire me into flights of fancy. I am writing this on the birthdate of the Faberge egg (29th May 1885 – 1917) The Faberge egg is instantly recognisable – sumptuous, bejewelled and opulent. The eggs were developed by the House of Faberge (1885 – 1917) in Russia and the miniature eggs were Easter gifts, that were given singly or were worn on a neck chain.

The Karelian egg

The larger more famous eggs (also known as the ‘imperial’ eggs) were originally made for Alexander 111 and Nicholas 11 of Russia. Only 50 of these eggs were made, and 42 have survived.

The Karelian and Constellation eggs, planned for 1918 were destined never to be delivered. Nicholas 11 and his whole family died in an assasination that year and the year before Nicholas had abdicated. The eggs themselves are gorgeous, opulent and seen as a symbol of luxury – jewellers masterpieces. But it is not these little baubles which once hung from necklaces which caught my eye, but this strange face distorting jewelery by Burcu Buyukunal.

My first question is ‘why?’ How does this enhanse the face? By distorting her face, do we then notice how attractive the woman really is? They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, different ‘looks’ have their admirers, as do fashion, design ect. Maybe one day ‘beauty’ will be played down to be the new beauty. It is this example which reminded me of how Elizabethan ladies used to pain their faces white and how patches made of velvet were used on the face in the 18th century to disguise blemishes, make the face appear even whiter or draw attention to certain facial features.

circa 1780 patch box

‘Her patches are of every cut,
For pimples and for scars;
Here’s all the wandering planets’ signs,
And some of the fixed stars.’

In this very short video we see the owner of the painting ‘Une Dam a sa Toilette’ by French painter Francois Boucher ( 1703 – 1770) explain the delicate operation of patch application. Boucher ‘s art is known for his voluptuous and idyllic subject matter which is well suited to the Rococo style. His patroness was the famous Madame Pompadour, he painted many portraits of her.

Whirls of cigarette smoke enveloping beautiful women in black and white movies lend such mystique and intrigue to the silver screen. The actuality is rather different. Cigarette Smoke permeates everything it touches, including, flesh, clothes and hair – there’s nothing mysterious about that, but I was quite tickled about this cigarette collAr – though I think they missed a trick by not making it a prisoners or slave’s collar to emphasis the entrapment of the noxious weed. The ‘chain’ association is still there though, and there is something of the chain smoking beagle about this collar. These types of collars are not new though – the actual shape of the ruff collar goes back to the sixteenth century and was worn by men, women and children. The pleats of the ruff was accomplished by the use of cone-shaped goffering irons. which were heated. Ruffs were made from a lot of material. Elizabeth1 had a ruff of ‘ten yards for the neck and hand’. During starching, ruffs could be coloured with vegetable dyes, though Elizabeth herself disapproved of the light blue colour;-

“Her Majesty’s pleasure is that no blue starch shall be used or worn by any of her Majesty’s subjects, since blue was the color of the flag of Scotland”

Stiff collars, smooth complextions, disguises used as enhancements – beauty will always be subjective and is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

Today is the birthday of English photographer Eadweard Muybridge (b.1830 – 1904) and it is being commemorated on Google. Muybridge used multiple camera work to capture motion, using what he called his zoopraxiscope which projected motion pictures. He was doing this before the perforated film strip was invented.

He was actually born Edward James Muggeridge and was of Dutch extraction but he changed his name quite a few times in his American career. He went under the pseudonym Helios, the Greek sun God) on many of his photos. He named his studio Helios and his son bore this middle name.

Born in Kingston on Thames in 1830, he was to emigrate to the US in 1855 where he started his career as an agent for a publisher and bookseller. In 1850 he was involved in a stagecoach accident in San Francisco and sustained severe head injuries. He returned to England for a few years after this to recuperate, taking up photography between 1861 – 1866 and using the early photographic process of the wet collodion which was introduced in the 1850s

In 1866 he went back in San Francisco where he became a successful photographer using mainly architectural and landscape as his subject matter. He built his reputation with photos of San Francisco and the Yosemite He quickly became noted for his grand photos of the West and in 1873 he was commissioned to photograph the Madoc War, a US Army’s expedition against the West Coast Indians.

Muybridge is famous for answering a much debated question of the day: do all four of a horses hooves move off the ground at the same time? Former Californian Governor, race horse owner and business Leland Stanford asserted that horses showed their front legs extended forward and their hind legs extended at the rear – as shown in paintings at the time. This was called ‘unsupported transit’ and in 1872 Leland set out to prove it scientifically by hiring Muybridge to document it.

Muybridge and Stanford fell out regarding Muybridge’s research on equine locomotion as Stanford published a book called ‘The Horse in Motion’ giving no credit to Muybridge whose photos and research it contained. This resulted in the Royal Society withdrawing an offer to fund his stop-motion photography. Muybridge filed a lawsuit against Stanford but lost.

Muybridge’s troubles spilled over into his personal life. In 1874 he discovered that his wife had taken a Major Harry Larkyns as her lover. Muybridge got even by shooting him. He was sent to trial, his defence being the injury he had sustained in the stagecoach accident which had caused him much injury. Friends even testified that Muybridge’s character dramatically changed from pleasant and genial to erratic and unstable after the accident. Although the jury dismissed his ‘insanity’ plea, he was acquitted for ‘justifiable homicide’ Stanford stood by him and paid for his criminal defence.

He left the Untied States after his acquittal, taking photographs in Central America and had his son Florado ‘Helios’ Muybridge put in an orphanage, believing Larkyns to be his true father even though in later life the boy bore a strong resemblance to Muybridge.

Muybridge lectured to a sell out audience in 1882 at the Royal institution in London. Member included the Royal family and the future King Edward V11. He returned to England for good in 1894, where he published two further books of his work. He died on 8th of May 1904 in Kingston on Thames. Muybridge has inspired a lot of artists as well as making a major contribution to photography. Thomas Eakins, an American artist who had worked with Muybridge continued the motion studies, incorporating some of his findings into his own artwork. Thomas Edison owned patents for motion pictures and Surrealist Marcel Duchamp was inspired to paint ‘Nude descending the Staircase No.2’ by Muybridge. Francis Bacon was a huge fan of Muybridge and a lot of his work was influenced by Muybridge’s photographs.

It’s about time we had some more unusual art on here. A while ago I posted about artist Willard Wigan who micro sculptures can only be viewed through a microscope (tiny worlds between heartbeats) I contrasted the micro art with the work of Hyperrealist sculptor Ron Meuckwhose gigantic realistic sculptures have a unerving quality about them.

A new art form has been emerging from China over the last few years. The process called leaf carving, involves careful precision, as the artist scrapes the outer layers of the leaf, exposing an almost transparent surface. The leaf veins are left intact to give stability to the sculpture.

The leaves preferred by artists are from the Chinar tree, which is native to India, China and Pakistan. The leaves are considered to have ‘lucky’ qualities and resemble maple leaves and are best suited for sculpting owing to the distribution of their veins.

Each carving can take months of careful work. But once finished, preserved and framed, the finished art should last decades.

From minute leaf sculpture to these 3D leaf sculptures. the news may be a couple of years old, but it’s news to me:-) Apparently a mystery artist left leaf sculptures along the water of Leith, Edinburgh in the autumn of 2010. One of the figures was dressed in green wellies,and a flat cap. Next to it, two charming leaf children clung to the railings.

The Leith river seems to have provided inspiration for Anthony Gormley too. You would think that life-sized cast iron figures would last a little longer than leaf ones, but two of Gormley’s six figures apparently fell victim to the Scottish and were pushed over by heavy tide.

Art officials have insisted that the figures were ‘designed to be tipped over’ Art lovers thought the sculptures had been stolen.

Leith locals had taken the sculptures to their hearts, donning them with bikinis, Y-fronts and even a MacDonald’s uniform!

The oldest living Surrealist artist Dorothea Tanning passed away January 31 2012 at the great age of 101. Tanning was born in Galesburg Illinois USA 1910, attending Knox College before living in Chicago for several years. In 1936 whilst attending the exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealismat the Museum of Modern Art New York, Tanning discovered the wonderful world of Surrealism and Dada. To support herself, Tanning worked as a commercial artist, but she soon began to work on her own surreal paintings in the early 1940s.

Lee Millar portrait of Tanning and Ernst

She was introduced to Julien Levy, a gallery owner who was to show her work and give her two one person exhibitions in 1944 and 1948. He introduced her to a circle of Surrealists whose work he was showing in his New York gallery. The young artist fell immediately in love with German surrealist Max Ernst and married him in 1946. Tanning’s surreal paintings have a dreamlike quality and a very individual style.

She lived in France with Ernst after the war for 28 years. Her work features in MOMA. The George Pompidou Centre. The Tate Gallery London and many more collections around the world. She created costumes for Balanchine between the 1940s and 50s and sculptures in the 70s

Maternity 1946

At the age of 91 the artist was asked how she felt about carrying the surrealist banner;-

I guess I’ll be called a surrealist forever, like a tattoo: “D. Loves S.” I still believe in the surrealist effort to plumb our deepest subconscious to find out about ourselves. But please don’t say I’m carrying the surrealist banner. The movement ended in the ’50s and my own work had moved on so far by the ’60s that being a called a surrealist today makes me feel like a fossil!

Birthday 1942

Tanning moved back to New York in 1979 after Ernst’s death. Among others, she found a friend in Pulitzer Prize-winning poet James Merrill. It was Merrill

“Who more than anyone at that point of my life, made me realize that living was still wonderful even though I felt that my loss, Max, had left nothing but ashes,” she says. “So if I took up brushes again, and the pen, to work for 20 more solitary years — and am still at it — it was Jimmy who made me want to, and so proved himself right.”

Tanning published her first book in 1986, The book is a collection of reminiscences and is called “Birthday,” after her most famous painting.

EineKleineNachtmusik

Her career spanned 6 decades, she was a printmaker, sculptor – she wrote and published poems and a novel. She counselled young artists with these words;-

“Keep your eye on your inner world and keep away from ads, idiots and movie stars.”

I was lucky enough to see her work in 2001 at a surrealist exhibition at the Tate Modern, called ‘Desire Unbound’ 2001 . Her dreamlike scenarios work ensure that she is still known as a surrealist.

Palaestra 1947

One of my posts about Women Surrealists and their work can be found here

Today is the birthday of Expressionist artist Chaim Soutine (b 1893 – 1943 Belarus) Soutine who was inspired by classical painting in the European tradition and he favoured colour, texture and shape over representation. His work acted as a bridge between traditional approach and the evolvment of Abstract Expressionism.

Soutine was born near Minsk (when it was part of the Russian empire) and one of eleven children, Soutine studied at the Vilna Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnius between 1910 – 1913 He emigrated to Paris with fellow artist Pinchus Kremegne (1890 – 1981) and Michel Kikoine 1892 – 1968) where he studied under Fernand Cormon at the Errcole des Beaux-Arts.

Little Girl with Doll 1919

Portait of a Nurse c 1916

He became friends with Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) and he painted Soutine’s portrait several times when they were all struggling artists in Montparnasse. Modigliani’s most famous portrait of Soutine was painted on an apartment door belonging to Leopold Zborowski (1889 – 1932) their art dealer. Zborowski was later to take the artist to Nice to escape Paris when it was being bombed in WWI.

After struggle and poverty, often helped by his friends and fellow artists, Soutine finally managed to sell 100 paintings to American collector Albert C. Barnes who established his Foundation Museum in Merion, USA in 1922.. With the proceeds, the artist now began to enjoy a better life and dividing his time between Paris , the Pyrenees and the Riviera.

Man with ribbons

Although a passionate artist, Soutine left few works. He suffered from anxiety and tempers and destroyed a lot of his paintings. There are a few stories about this artist which give us a sketch of his personality and the effect it had upon his work. One of them concerns one of his most iconic set of images series Le Boeuf Ecorche’ .

Three studies for the Crucifixion by Francis Bacon 1962

His neighbours complained about the stench of the animal carcass which he kept in his studio and called the police. But Soutine remained unrepentant, advocating art over hygiene. He painted 10 of the carcass paintings, inspired by Rembrandt’s Carcass of Beef (1655) sometimes known as The Flayed Ox after studying the Old Master’s in the Louvre, Paris. One of the paintings in Soutine’s series Le Boeuf Ecorche’(1924) sold for £7.8 million in 2006.

Little Pastry Cook

His work is characterised by its frantic brushwork, often violent colour and distorted images which covey emotion and he liked to paint bell boys, waiters and hotel workers – ordinary everyday people. In 1937 Soutine was hailed as a great painter, even though he did not take part in an important exhibition The Origins and Development of International Independent Art which was held at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. Very soon after that, the France was invaded by the Germans and Soutine, as a Jew had to flee Paris to avoid arrest by the Gestapo. He lived as best he could and eventually left a safe shelter to return to Paris for an operation for a bleeding stomach ulcer. The operation was not a success and he died of a perforated ulcer on August 9, 1943 . Soutine was interred in Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris.